Thursday, September 17, 2020

Taking a flight? This is how airlines are keeping their aircraft coronavirus safe

New Delhi: From disinfecting customer touch points, spraying seats with anti-microbial mist to health check-ups of crew members at regular intervals, airlines are scrambling to reassure wary travellers that planes are safe even as air passenger traffic remains a trickle of what it was in pre-Covid days. In India too, most airlines have put in place a rigorous cleaning procedure involving 3-4 hours for every commercial aircraft.

Most airlines have equipped their aircraft with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which claim to catch 99.9 per cent of particles as small as 0.1 to 0.3 microns and trap harmful particles such as pollen and dust mites, including coronavirus.

Resurgence of novel coronavirus cases in Europe has not helped matters, with a recent survey cited by AP saying that instead of growing comfortable with air travel, more people are becoming nervous at the idea of being trapped indoors in close proximity with many people for hours on end.

This comes even as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that most viruses and other germs don’t spread easily on flights because of how air circulates on planes.

In its latest report, the International Air Transport Association said global air passenger traffic was 79.8 per cent less in July this year compared to the corresponding period a year ago. The association, which represents 290 airlines comprising 82 per cent of global air traffic, has predicted that carriers will lose $84 billion this year, making it the worst year in the industry’s history, with traffic not recovering fully until 2024.

17/09/20 Indian Express

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